Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Re: Advertised public sale, now threatened to be exclusory

Correction to typo: The second public in my posted answer is a typo. The word private should be sustituted for this word as the answer was intended to read as...whether public or private entities or persons.

Re: Advertised public sale, now threatened to be exclusory

You might not have "legal standing" to sue as you would have to prove that you yourself would be damaged by the proposed sale. Probably the computers are out of date and would be a poor value in any event.

Re: Advertised public sale, now threatened to be exclusory

Advertisements, whether offered by public or public entities or persons, are generally recognized in the law as little more than "invitations to chaffer", meaning to bargain(to engage in light and teasing talk, according to Merriam-Webster's) and not as lawful contracts subject to breach and the remedies at law designed to redress such breaches.

Re: Advertised public sale, now threatened to be exclusory

I think it is very clear law that an advertisement

alone is not sufficient to create a contract. It

may be unfair. One of our great Supreme Court

Justices once commented that "sometimes the law

is an ass." So you may not feel it is fair,

but that is the law.

However, an entirely different question is whether

the County has the authority to do this under

Virginia law. Counties have very limited

authority, and have only that authority which is

explicitly granted to them by a statute, under

the Dillon Rule. I don't know about State

government contract, but I think it should be

looked at from that perspective.